Chapter 3
My body felt weak, and I didn’t want to engage with her. Clutching my stomach, I brushed past Nora.
“This must be your token of love, right?”
Suddenly, Nora yanked the red string bracelet off my wrist and tossed it into the toilet.
“No!”
I lunged forward to stop her, but it was already too late. The red string disappeared into the swirling water.
The moment it vanished, it felt like a knife had stabbed straight through my heart.
It was the last keepsake my mother had left me. I’d worn it since birth.
Tears blurred my vision as I glared at Nora. I couldn’t control myself, my hand rising to slap
her.
But before I could, a man rushed in and shoved me hard to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
Jasper pulled Nora tightly into his arms, his voice seething with rage as he shouted at me.
“Hallie, who gave you the right to hurt Nora?”
I looked up at him, his icy eyes sending a chill down my spine, my voice trembling as I cried, “I didn’t even touch her! She destroyed my red string!”
It was the first time I had seen him this shaken; his heart seemed to tremble. He knew how much that red string meant to me as though it were family.
A flicker of guilt flashed in his eyes. Without thinking, he crouched down and reached out to stroke my head.
“Ah!” Nora screamed, clutching her arm as tears streamed down her face.
Jasper’s gaze snapped to her, and he froze, his eyes widening at the sight of blood dripping from Nora’s arm.
Normally composed, he was now in a panic, frantically trying to stop the bleeding.
“Brother Jasper, please don’t blame Hallie. It’s not her fault; it was just my clumsiness.” Jasper’s eyes darkened, a wave of disappointment washing over his features. His voice, when it came, was cold and detached.
“Hallie, I didn’t expect this from you. You’ve shown your true colors. Starting today, you need to move out. You’ll only be allowed back when Nora forgives you.”
I watched as he walked away, Nora clutched in his arms, vanishing through the door. Tears poured from my eyes like a burst spring. I had known for a long time that he didn’t love me. I had even prepared myself to leave, yet the sorrow still consumed me.
I wiped my eyes, forcing myself to move. I entered the master bedroom, packing my few belongings into a suitcase. There was hardly anything to pack, only a couple of outfits.
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Jasper had always liked his rooms to be minimalist and bare. So, aside from the two outfits, I never dared to leave more behind.
But now, after just one night, the room was already cluttered with Nora’s trinkets.
Photos of her and Jasper filled the walls.
His carefree smile in those pictures cut through me like a knife.
In seven years, Jasper and I had never taken a single photo together.
Every time I tried, he would frown and complain about hating pictures.
So, my photo album was filled only with pictures of his back, and his phone never had a single image of me.
Just like his heart, there had never been a place for me in it.
Being by his side for seven years had been nothing more than a fleeting gift, a repayment for that one–night stand, the desperate plea I’d made for a relationship.
Now, it was time to let go.
I placed the black card on the nightstand, grabbed my suitcase, and walked out without a single glance back. I went to the small apartment I had bought for myself, the one I could call my
own.
My phone buzzed, and Jasper’s message flashed on the screen.
[Nora has a kind heart. She forgives you. You don’t need to move out anymore, but from now on, stay away from her in the villa.]
[Make her some chicken soup and bring it to her.]
A bitter laugh escaped me as I turned off my phone and took a taxi to the office.
The moment I walked through the door, the hushed whispers of my coworkers greeted me.
